A Prayer for Community on Psalm 84

This prayer comes from the group study section of the book Desiring God, by John Piper:

Lord of Hosts,

Your Dwelling places are altogether lovely.

May it be that as people read and study and discuss Your Word

together that they might long and yearn to be in Your courts

where they might see and savor You.

Cause the hearts, even the bodies, of Your people to be filled

with rejoicing in You, the living God.

Even the birds of the air rest in Your presence and find comfort and

security and joy in Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, our King and our God.

So too are all who dwell in Your house;

their joy is as unceasing as their praise.

A Prayer of Hope on Psalm 117

May all the nations praise Your name, O Lord.


May all the people of the earth praise You.


May we hear You Spirit, whispering


You love us with unfailing love,


and faithfulness that endures forever.

Praise the Lord!

Contemplation on Psalm 29 for Baptism of the Lord

O God,

May Your angels give You honor

for Your glory and Your strength.

May they worship You in the splendour

of your holiness.

If I go near the sea, then I observe as

Your voice echoes and thunders over the sea.

But if I go near the forest, I observe as

Your lightning splits and shatters

even the oldest and mightiest of trees.

And if I go near the mountains, I observe as

they shake and dance

and lava reshapes even their ancient forms.

And if I go near the desert, I observe as

even the most featureless deserts

can shake and slip their sands

at a word from You.

May I always remember as I consider the larger work of Your hands,

As I contemplate the massive change that nevertheless springs from the Changeless One

That all stands unchanging in this one point:

You rule over all, and what a wonder

that You give me access to that fathomless strength You hold.

Always..Your blessings lead to peace.

Epiphany First Professed, Psalm 96

A prayer for those days when much of what is not real seeks to prop itself against what IS real.


O Lord,


Give me the energy, the vision, the desire


To sing a new song to You


Even in days that grow redundant with the lifelessness of winter.





Now especially is a good time to sing a new song to You.


I know that if all the earth is to sing Your praise, it means


That even as one sings it easily in their growing days of high summer,


Another must sing as easily in the heaviness of winter.


Even as one throws open, and the other hunkers down,
A song still rises.


So it is good, it is necessary, for both to recognize:


You are ever worthy of praise!





I will stir myself up, lift my eyes to the heavens.


Surely You made them as well.


They are beyond the work of my hands; and


My own glory is less attached to them.


There I see a purer view of Your splendor and majesty.


Grant that I might worship You in that splendor,


the splendor of holiness.





May this be the year when I become a part of that wave of song,


Voices saying to the nations: the Lord reigns.


For when I say this, I affirm my own joy in knowing...


I am no accident. Neither is anyone else.





Give my hands work to do that will bring that holy balance to Your creation:


when the heavens will rejoice;


when the earth will be glad;


when the sea will resound;


and the fields be jubilant.





May I sit beneath the trees of the forest and hear them sing for joy.


May I attach all this goodness to this very hope and assurance:


You come to judge the world in righteousness


and people in equity and truth.


Amen...

Concluding the New Year Cycle with a Breath Prayer on Psalm 117

A breath prayer to offer when reflecting both on solitude and on community:

Your merciful kindness is great toward us;

Your truth endures forever.

New Year's Supplication on Psalm 90

Lord...

Through all the generations, You have been our home.

If we will pause and remember,

We will see that despite our best efforts to hide them,

--efforts even beyond our conscious knowing--

You nevertheless spread our secret sins out before You.

You see them all;

so our lives end in one great groan.

And this only if we have been given the grace of self-awareness.

This only if we embrace a mustard-seed of humility.

What are we to do about this tragedy?

When we see that Your wrath is as awesome

As the fear You deserve. How do we respond?

Do we bury our tiny treasures until the day of accounting?

Is this how a bud displays its appointed loveliness?

Do we shield ourselves from a scorching sun?

How would You have us make the most of our time?

(That tiny march of days, so like the one-day life cycle of a grass blade

in Your timeless economy.)

Oh, Lord, come back to us!

How long will You delay?

Take pity on Your servants.

Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love

So that we may sing with joy to the end of our lives.

Give us gladness in proportion to our misery.

Replace the evil years with good.

Let us see Your miracles again;

Let our children see Your glory at work.

Show us Your approval,

And make our efforts successful.

Amen.

New Year's Prayer on Psalm 8

O God,

Help me this new year to take Your commissioning seriously and soberly.

You have given me dominion over the works of Your hands.

How astounding is this?

Through my life may Your blessings flow over the sheep and oxen,

over the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.

Through my soul may You be glorified

when I gaze at the heavens, the moon and the stars

the work of Your fingers.

May this be the year when I say:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!